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09/05/2016

THE NATURE OF BEAUTY IS THE BEAUTY OF NATURE

The world-renowned flower designer explains his approach to precision and dynamic balance

“Flowers and the natural world are my passion. In my life, work springs from respect and total commitment towards nature”. These few words perfectly describe the modus vivendi at the base of success for Ercole Moroni, who is rightly considered as one of the most appreciated celebrity florists in the international scenario. Ingenious, charismatic and extravagant, he has gained admiration and respect in the most exclusive settings of the planet coming from a small rural village in the Marches region, near Senigallia. At the age of eighteen, he flew to London with 100,000.00 old Italian liras in his pocket, an innate passion for flowers and the unlimited force of a dream. He spent his time between working in a pizzeria and following botanical studies until in 1991 he opened up the Queens Flower store with a friend. The first great opportunity came with the Serpentine Gallery Summer Party for Vanity Fair, the smartest event of London society summer life, with Princess Diana as honour guest. It was in that occasion that Ercole was noted by some organizers of important international events. Since then, his best achievements have included the Night of the Oscars, the Cannes Festival, Robert De Niro’s Tribeca Festival and customers such as Alexander Mc Queen, Naomi Campbell, Madonna, Gwyneth Paltrow and Princess Rania of Jordan, not to mention the most prestigious high-couture houses, among them Bulgari, Cartier, Louis Vuitton and Hermès. You will be disappointed, though, if you expect to meet a guru or a jet-set icon. Ercole Moroni does not like to be labelled with magniloquent definitions. He has always been and will always remain a visionary cosmopolitan with a taste for beauty deeply rooted in nature, his family and his homeland. Right here, in the Marche region, he has created Casa Ercole, a renovated country house where he organizes courses for aspiring florists coming from all over the world to disseminate his aesthetic philosophy. We have met Ercole in his buen retiro, immersed in sweetly sloping-down hills, to ask him about his job, precision and dynamic balance for our very precise Blog.

Your work is intimately related with beauty. What is the importance of personal taste, innate aesthetical sense and technique when you teach to your students?

I am touched by beautiful things, especially if humble and not reproducible. I love whatever can give me emotions and I am lucky to work with something that is already a miracle of beauty. I only add a human touch to what is naturally beautiful. Technique is crucial. I have seen so many people converting something very beautiful into ugly by using it in the wrong way or in the wrong place. I don’t want to see flowers die before time or be transformed in something different. My taste, my aesthetical sense and my technique evolve continuously and I am the first one to question myself. Luckily, perfection does not exist and we are all losers against the beauty of nature. I get inspiration from what surrounds me and from the hands of my mother, who makes miracles every day with what the earth has to give us.

What is the secret at the base of Ercole Moroni’s success?

My secret is to work hard, expecting almost the impossible from myself and from my collaborators. My goal is to make people around me happy because I selfishly dislike sadness. Finally, never give up studying and never get tired of beauty. The economic issues of work are important and must be always kept under control with a great sense of responsibility both towards myself and my collaborators. However, I have always considered happiness to be the measure of real success. For me, money has always been a way to make my dreams come true and help other people to do the same. You can’t take anything with you when you die, but if you have worked well, part of you will always stay with those who have shared your journey of happiness.

Does precision count for a flower designer?

Precision is crucial. The utmost care for details is the artist’s last touch. Details do make the difference.

You have often mentioned your close harmony with nature. Can we say that seasons are a sort of dynamic balance?

In the passing of seasons you can find a changeable balance in which the colors, smells and shapes of Nature are always perfectly combined together. This is a source of inspiration and a point of reference for my compositions. You need to stimulate senses and beyond … with a little magic.

You have reached extraordinary goals in your professional life. Do you still have an unrealized dream in the deep of your heart?

I have plenty of unrealized dreams. As I have said on several occasions, if I were a flower I would be a “papola” (corn poppy in the local dialect) in a wheat field, a humble yet very recognizable flower. I’d like to share my passion for beauty with everybody. I’d like to have my own TV show in order to reach out as many people as possible and infuse confidence in youth.